By clicking on this article, it means you are interested in web development, or you are thinking about starting to learn web development. Here, I will tell you the path to becoming a web developer, and it is a guide for beginners on web development. This article will not teach you how to write code, but rather point out the things you should think about before you actually write code. Web development is exciting and passionate, precisely catering to this rapidly changing and evolving world. To understand web development, let us first define a few basic concepts.

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Front-end vs. Back-end

From the very beginning, you must distinguish between front-end development and back-end development. Let us introduce them separately.

Front-end

Web applications are classified as distributed applications, generally following a client-server architecture, so we have part of the code running on the client side and another part running on the server. The applications on the client side are the front-end, which usually refers to our browser. The technologies most commonly used for front-end development are HTML + CSS + JavaScript. Advanced front-end developers usually use a combination of these technologies to develop the front-end of applications. Another common front-end technique is using Photoshop for design, combined with other technologies to complete the production of web pages.

Back-end

Back-end developers write the code that runs on the server. Generally speaking, this part of the work involves dealing with databases, such as reading and writing data, reading and writing files, and implementing business logic. Sometimes, business logic is stored on the client side, in which case the back-end is used to provide data from the database in the form of web services. Back-end developers generally need to master a web programming language and a database management system.

You can master both front-end and back-end technologies, but most web developers still have certain preferences or even focus deeply on only one area. Although there is a distinction between front-end and back-end, there are no specific rules defining their respective tasks. Sometimes the front-end only handles displaying data, while all the main work is done on the back-end. But other times, the back-end only provides data, while all the computation and specific functions are completed on the front-end. The division of work between front-end and back-end is usually determined by the design and architecture of the project.

Programming Languages

For web development, there are many programming languages to choose from. When front-end development is needed, the standard development language is JavaScript. When back-end development is needed, we have more options:

  • PHP
  • JavaScript
  • Ruby on Rails (with the Ruby language)
  • ASP.NET (with the .NET language)
  • Java EE
  • Python

There is actually no definitive list; the above are just the languages that developers typically think of and use. So how should you choose? Your choice should be based on the following aspects: the job market (career opportunities), hosting services, available learning resources, available learning time, and the surrounding development environment, among others.

If you truly want to work in the development industry and find a web development job, then the most important selection factor is the job market (career opportunities). You need to analyze the industry situation and choose a programming language to learn. Another important factor is hosting services; for example, PHP hosting is much cheaper than Java hosting. If you are developing enterprise internal applications, Java EE might be a good choice. But if you want to launch your application online, Java EE will be much more expensive than other languages.

With the popularity of Node.js, JavaScript has also become popular in back-end development. However, it is still a new and not fully mature technology, so it is not recommended for beginners learning web development to learn and use.

In my opinion, PHP has the easiest learning curve, inexpensive hosting services, abundant learning resources (PHP100 is a great choice), and a relatively simple development environment, so I recommend that beginner web developers learn and use PHP. Of course, ASP.NET is also a good choice. Microsoft provides many learning resources and free development tools related to ASP.NET. If you like the Microsoft environment, ASP.NET is worth considering.

Frameworks

If you are still a beginner, you should build a solid foundation before you start learning frameworks. Frameworks can help you simplify development work, providing many ready-made code libraries. They give you the structure for your web application, making your programming work simpler and faster. If you want to become a professional web developer, you must become proficient in at least one framework to accelerate your web development.

There are many types of frameworks, including general-purpose solutions and solutions for specific problems. You need to evaluate your needs first. If you choose PHP for development, I recommend using Laravel as the framework; it is a very popular MVC framework in recent years. If you choose ASP.NET, I recommend learning and using ASP.NET MVC and Entity Framework.

Web development may be too large in scope, and you might want to focus only on one type of application, such as a content management system (CMS). If you still choose PHP, then I recommend WordPress. It can help you create websites and blogs, and you can also extend it with existing plugins or themes.

What to Do Next

Even if you choose to work only on front-end or back-end development, you should still understand the other end of development; doing so will make your team more efficient. If you have already learned a programming language and its corresponding framework, you should start learning another language. Every programming language has its own advantages and paradigms. Learning more languages can give you a deeper understanding of the problems you need to solve, lead to better solutions, and make you a better developer. Finally, as I said before, there are many factors to consider when choosing a programming language. My choices remain JavaScript, PHP, ASP.NET, and Java EE; you can use them for reference.

Original:http://arian-celina.com/a-beginners-guide-to-web-development
Translation:http://www.php100.com/html/dujia/2015/0120/8425.html